Situation
A business based outside the EU that ships to customers inside it
The situation
A business registered outside the EU sends packaged goods directly to people in EU countries, rather than selling to a distributor who resells them.
What appears to apply
Producer is the word the rules use for whoever first puts packaging onto a country's market. It is worked out country by country, so one business can be a producer in several countries at once. There are five ways to become one. Two cover selling packaged goods at home. Two cover sending packaged goods straight to customers in another EU country. The fifth catches a business that unpacks goods without being the one who uses them, unless somebody earlier in the chain already counts as the producer.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Art. 3(1), point (15) — read from this source on
The two about sending goods to customers in another country decide whether a representative is needed there. The fifth, about unpacking, is the one most often missed.
A business that sends packaged goods straight to customers in another EU country has to appoint someone based in that country to handle its packaging duties there. The rules call this person an authorised representative for extended producer responsibility. It has to be done in writing, and separately for each country. For businesses based outside the EU the picture is different: each country decides for itself whether to require one.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Art. 45(3) — read from this source on
The rules use the same phrase, authorised representative, for a different job to do with product paperwork. Same words, different role.
National divergences recorded for this rule
Austria requires a foreign seller without an Austrian base to appoint an Austrian representative. Austria also asks for more than a signed letter. The appointment is made by a “beglaubigte Vollmacht” — a power of attorney whose signature has been authenticated. It has to be in German or English, list which collection and treatment categories it covers, and record that the representative agrees to take on the duties. The representative also needs an Austrian address for post.
Source: Unternehmensserviceportal (USP), Republic of Austria — read from this source on
In Germany an authorised representative takes on every extended producer responsibility duty except one: entry in the LUCID packaging register. Registering, and later changing those registration details, stays a duty of the business itself and cannot be handed over.
Source: Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (ZSVR) — Packaging Act: Authorised representatives — read from this source on
A business based outside Germany that sells empty packaging or packaged goods straight to end users in Germany, with no branch there, appoints an authorised representative. That representative is entered in the LUCID register before anything is first made available on the German market. The German rules set out no exemption.
Source: Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (ZSVR) — Packaging Act: Authorised representatives — read from this source on
Germany sets three conditions on who can act as an authorised representative. The representative needs a registered office or a branch in Germany, the appointment is made by a written agreement in German, and the representative holds their own separate login for the LUCID packaging register.
Source: Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (ZSVR) — Packaging Act: Authorised representatives — read from this source on
Countries with extra requirements of their own
Only countries that have been checked appear here. A country's absence means nobody has looked at it yet, not that it asks for nothing extra.